The Pickpocket
by exodeissus
Summary: Emma was a runaway, living on the streets, until the day she met the Mercer Brothers and Evelyn took her in. Emma's aunt was able to get her back, and moved her far from the Mercers. Four years later, Emma and Jack are in the same Place again. But will they meet? Will they recognise each other?
1. Remembering

_Bobby put two fingers under Emma's chin, forcing her to look at him._

_"Don't worry, kiddo," he said softly. "We'll stay in touch. I promise." Emma angrily wiped her eyes. She didn't like crying. Mercers didn't cry._

_"But you won't pick me up after school anymore," she whined. _

_"You don't know that. I can visit you at your aunt's. We all can," Bobby tried. But they both knew that was a lie. Her aunt hated the Mercers._

_"I don't want to go with her," Emma said._

_"We can kidnap you and take you back home," Jack suggested. _

_"Yeah, if anything happens, we'll come get you," Angel promised. Emma bit her lip. She was going to miss her brothers terribly, yet she knew she had no choice._

_"I'll call you every day!" she said._

_**Four years later, London: **_

"Emma! Stop daydreaming!" Emma's aunt said. "We still have five presents to buy!"

"Christmas is like a week away, Eva," Emma sighed. "Why can't we leave those for later?"

"I like doing things in time, you know that!" Eva replied. Yes, Emma knew. She, on the other hand, did everything the last minute, which often got her in trouble with her aunt.

"Now, I'll go look for a nice jumper to give to your father, and you go get that circle-thing your cousin asked for."

"You mean the hula-hoop?" Emma asked innocently, knowing that her aunt hated being corrected.

"Don't be so cheeky, Emma," Eva warned. Emma turned around without a word, her back still hurting from yesterday's punishment. Not that Eva was so bad. She tried to be nice but Emma knew she wasn't the easiest person to get along with. Though Evelyn had always been nice. Emma swallowed. She wasn't supposed to think about the Mercer's. It had been four years already, they had surely forgotten about her. When she was little, she used to think of them as her protectors, but ever since her aunt had gotten her back, they hadn't been there to protect her. She waited months for them to come and take her back home, but they never did. Emma sighed. They were selling hockey gear in the store where she was and she instantly thought of Bobby as she ran her fingers over one of the sticks.

"Where are you, Bobby?" she asked softly.

**Boston:**

Bobby lighted up a cigarette as he listened to his friend. He didn't smoke, but he hadn't seen his family for almost a year now and the smell reminded him of his brother Jack. Curtis waved his hands around as he explained his idea to Bobby. It was a damn fine idea, if it worked. They could make some money, good money. If it didn't work, on the other hand, they would be even more broke than they were now.

"So where is the place?" Bobby asked. He was only a bit worried. Curtis friend was selling an old building and was offering it to Bobby and Curtis at a good price. If things went as they were hoping, they could open up a club. The only downside to it was, in Bobby's mind, that Curtis' friend usually made things sound a whole lot better than they were.

"Oh, well you see… what's important is if we can draw people to it, the location isn't…"

"Jesus, man," Bobby sighed. "Just tell me where the damn thing is, alright?" Curtis opened his mouth but was interrupted again, this time by Bobby's phone ringing.

"What?" Bobby said into the phone.

"Hey man, it's your brother. Remember me?"

"Jackie-boy," Bobby smiled, "What you want?" Bobby was happy to hear his brother's voice, and surprised that Jack had actually found his current number, but tough-talk had always been his way.

"I'm going away with the band," Jack said, "we're going on tour. I need someone to look out for my cat, and Ma can't."

"Hell no," Bobby exclaimed, "No way, Jackie, leave it with someone else." Jack sighed.

"There is no one else. I would have called Angel, but he's proven to be even harder to track down than you." If Bobby's pride was in any way hurt by the last sentence, he sure didn't show it.

"Call Jerry."

"Camille's allergic."

"Well give her a couple of pills, shave the damn thing, I don't know! But you damn well ain't bringing it here! Why don't you just take it with you?"

"I can't, Bobby. We're going to Europe." Bobby rolled his eyes. Oh, so **that's** why he called. Boy just wanted to show off.

"You even got a damn cat, you little fairy?"

"Nope," Jack chuckled, "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

"Where in Europe?" Bobby asked.

"Paris."

"Cracker Jack, I'm proud of you. Guess that good-for-nothing guitar you got actually is good for something."

"Yeah, I guess. Look, we're leaving tomorrow, just wanted you to know." Bobby smiled.

"Little sister growing up so fast!" he teased.

"Shut up, Bobby."

"Don't forget your toothbrush. Bring extra tampons!" Jack had hung up and Bobby put the phone aside.

"So, where is it?" he continued his conversation with Curtis, as if they had not been interrupted.


	2. The Pickpocket

**Seven years earlier, Detroit: **

_"__Bobby, this sucks," Jeremiah sighed. _

_ "__Yeah, Bobby," Angel agreed. "Let's go home, man!" _

_ "__Shut up!" The three boys were out in the Detroit winter looking for a vase to replace the one Bobby had accidently broken back at home._

_ "__You know Ma won't do anything," Jeremiah insisted. "She'll just tell us to replace it." Someone bumped into Bobby as he slapped Jeremiah over the head._

_ "__Man, you're such an idiot, Jerry! I know she won't do anything, but I want to replace it before she comes home, to surprise her!"_

_ "__Great surprise," Jeremiah said ironically. "Hey Ma, we broke your vase, but you know what? We replaced it. Surprise!" _

_ "__You know she…" Bobby stopped in the middle of a sentence, digging into his pockets._

_ "__What?" Angel said impatiently._

_ "__My wallet…" Bobby said looking down the street. "That freakin' kid stole my wallet!" The boys started running after the hooded figure in front of them who had earlier bumped into Bobby._

_ "__Hey, KID!" Bobby yelled. "Give me back my wallet, you little fucker!" The hooded figure turned around and then began to run. The kid's legs were short though, and Bobby was a fit twenty-two year old who had no problem catching up. They ran down a short alley and then into a dead end. The thief was trapped. Panicking, the kid started climbing up one of the walls, trying to escape. Bobby went for the kid but Angel put a hand on his arm._

_ "__Bobby." He said quietly. Bobby followed his eyes and let out a gasp. This wasn't some punk ass thief trying to get some cash for his dope, it was a little girl. She stared at them with her dark eyes wide with fear._

_ "__Hey, hey, we ain't gonna hurt you, okay?" Bobby said, putting out his hands with his palms up, like he had seen Ma do when comforting Jack. The girl didn't reply, she just pushed her back harder against the wall. _

_ "__It's okay, girl. I just want my wallet back, you can keep the money," Bobby offered. "It was a gift from my Ma, and she means a lot to me." The girl looked down at her hands and blinked. Bobby waited, but when she didn't move he tried again._

_ "__I promise we won't hurt you, just throw the wallet down." The girl slowly shook her head. Jeremiah sighed._

_ "__She don't have it no more, Bobby," he said. Jerry had pickpocketed a few wallets himself in his early years and knew how it worked. "Let's go back and see where she threw it." Bobby didn't move._

_ "__Is that right? Did you throw it away?" he asked. The girl nodded carefully, as if not sure whether he was now more upset or not._

_ "__Where?" Angel asked. The girl hesitated._

_ "__By the shoe store," she said. She had a funny accent but spoke so softly that Bobby couldn't place it. He started to move away but then turned back towards her._

_ "__You know, we got food at home if you're hungry," he said, damning himself. Bringing home strays was Ma's thing. He couldn't afford looking out for more people than his family, but something about this kid drew his attention. Maybe because she reminded him so much of Jack. She shook her head._

_"__You sure?" He tried. She shook her head more firmly. He sighed. "Fine. What's your name?"_

_"__Are you gonna call the police?" English. She sounded English. Bobby smirked._

_"__Nah, we don't get along so well. Besides, I said we were cool right? Just wanna know your name."_

_"__Emma."_

_"__Well, Emma, I'm Bobby. Bobby Mercer. These are my brothers Angel and Jerry. You ever get in trouble, little kid, you call us, okay?" She nodded slowly. Okay. _

_"__Hell was that?" Angel asked when they had gotten out of earshot. _

_"__What?" Bobby asked irritably._

_"__You being all warm and cozy, telling some kid to call you!" Angel laughed. Bobby frowned._

_"__C'mon, man, you telling me I didn't do the right thing? I bet she ain't got nobody to go home to."_

_"__I didn't say it was wrong. Just not your thing."_

_"__Oh, yeah? What's my thing then, smartass?" Bobby said, finding his thrown away, emptied wallet._

_"__Ah, you know, just beating the living shit out of the little punk motherfucker's ass, getting some blood on yo hands, breaking some bones, man! That's your style!" Bobby rolled his eyes._

_"__With a ten year old girl? I'm glad he didn't!" Jerry said. "Now let's get outta here!" Bobby was looking through his wallet with a thoughtful look on his face._

_"__What, man? She leave a bomb or something?" Angel teased. _

_"__She took the picture," Bobby said. He always carried a picture of his brothers and mother. _

_"__What picture?" Jerry asked._

_"__The family picture I always have in here. Why would she take that?"_

_"__Probably just fell out when she threw it. Good thing too, Jerry still had his afro back then," Angel said. "It's about time you got a new one." Bobby shrugged, trying to shake of the nagging feeling that something was not right._

_"__Alright you bitches, if Ma asks, the neighbor's cat broke that damn vase, you got me?"_


End file.
